Unfortunate, Adjective: Very Bad Luck
by Akane Arihyoshi
Summary: Fortune-teller Kairi Sanford is found dead in her shop. Her assistant Arlene tells the police a story of a break-in and murder, but Officers Ienzo and Myde aren't sure. In the end, the killer may not even be on their suspect list. Very slight Zemyx.


Title Explanation: I was trying to think of a title for this. I went and looked up the word "fortune", which led to the word "fortunate", which led to "unfortunate". Finally, since I couldn't think up a good title, I just defined the word. Heh, I'm lazy.

Author: Akane Arihyoshi

Name Explanation: I used the Kingdom Hearts Organization Thirteen for this fanfic. Don't look at me like that, I did. Really. I just used their Somebody names. I used this for a school project, and my other friend was already writing a story with their Nobody names (the names with 'x's in them.) in it. Go figure. But here they are, in order of appearance.

Myde - Demyx (IX)

Even - Vexen (IV)

Ienzo - Zexion (VI)

Arlene - Larxene (XII)

Lae - Axel (VIII)

Elaeus - Lexaeus (V)

The last names have no significance, except for Lae and Arlene's. Pire. Since their elements (fire and lightning, respectively) both have something to do with fire, I based their last name off of 'pyro', the Latin word for 'fire' (at least that's what my English teacher says. Correct me if I'm wrong.). I'd like to add that Myde, Arlene, and Lae are not actually proven to be the true Somebody names. Numbers VII through XII don't have official Somebody names that have been released, and so for them I'm using what **_I believe _**to be their true names. Don't review saying that that's not their names, or that you believe differently, please.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I don't own any of the names. I wish I owned Myde. I wish I owned him and Ienzo. But I don't. And now, thinking about how much I **_DON'T _**own them, I think I might cry.

Edit: The title messed up...so those of you who saw this in your email because you have me on alert, I'm sorry if it didn't make sense at first...

* * *

You'd think she would have seen it coming.

Those were Myde Williams' first thoughts upon walking into the fortune-teller's small business. A woman -- her name was Kairi Sanford -- lay dead on the floor in the small room to the left, but Even Carr, their medical examiner, was already there with her. Myde turned away from her. She wasn't his current priority. The killer was.

He looked around the room. It was generally well organized, hardly a thing out of place. A small, neat pile of papers sat on a large desk in the center of the room, and the only other furniture was a few chairs, and behind the desk, and the others scattered around the room. It was totally void of obvious clues.

"Izzy…" Myde whined, turning to his partner, Ienzo Dubourg. Ienzo sighed wearily. How did he get stuck with the new kid?

"What?"

"It's not…it's…it's all organized, and clean…"

Ienzo fought the urge to snap at him. "Well, what were you expecting?"

"Something less…orderly. Where do we start?"

Ienzo heard Even snicker from the next room. So he was listening? Wonderful. Just what Ienzo needed, more humiliation. Turning to glare at the doorway to the other room as if it had done him personal harm, Ienzo impatiently replied, "You start where you start. Where else?"

Myde blinked. "Gee. Thanks so much."

No problem Mr. Williams," Ienzo replied curtly.

Myde grumbled a bit to himself, then he donned his gloves and started going through the pile of papers on the desk. After flipping through some documents, he set them back on the desk.

"Nothing here." Myde stated coolly.

"Did you go through all of them?" Ienzo asked quickly.

"…No…"

Ienzo growled unhappily. "Go help Even."

"Okay!"

The snickering that had been coming from the other room stopped abruptly. Ienzo almost grinned. Let Even have his turn dealing with the new recruit. Let's see if he's laughing after that. Smiling to himself, Ienzo turned to the papers Myde had abandoned and began examining them himself.

Myde lumbered through the door to the other room. Even groaned, looking up from the body. All the productivity in the room had packed its bags and moved to Hawaii. Nobody seemed to have told Myde, however.

"Mr. Carr!" he yelled, pointing to Even.

Even sighed heavily. "Yes?"

"I want to help! Let me help! Can I help?!"

"Fine, fine. Just stop talking."

Myde pouted, but shut his mouth.

"Now…go find…the murder weapon." said Even, going back to his work.

"Okay!"

Myde flitted through the room eagerly, searching. Finally his eyes fell on the only bloody object in the room: the crystal ball.

Carefully he picked it up. It was about the size of a baseball, but much heavier. Myde was very pleased with himself. He grinned, and Even thought he looked kind of nice when he was quiet, but then Myde opened his mouth and the effect was ruined.

"Even! I found it! See, see?!"

Even observed the small object in Myde's hand. "Yes, yes I see," he muttered darkly, "Go show Ienzo. He'd love to see it I bet."

"Okay!" Myde opened the door and trotted back into the front room.

Ienzo looked up, slightly disappointed that Myde hadn't been gone for longer. However, he showed none of this disappointment, standing up and holding out a piece of paper to Myde. "Read this," he said, "It may have given us a suspect.

Myde handed Ienzo the crystal ball and took the note, scanning over it. It was very short, from Arlene, the Kairi's assistant, to Kairi. It was written very hastily and angrily. Myde turned back to Ienzo.

"Arlene?" Myde asked.

Ienzo nodded. "Arlene Pire. She's the one who found the body. He son, Lae, called 911. I'm thinking we should talk to her. How about you?"

"Yeah…and her son called 911? How old is he then?"

"Lae? He's six."

"So what's he doing out of school?"

"That's a good question."

-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-

Arlene sat in a chair across the table from Myde at Ienzo at the Police Station. Her son was waiting outside. She was frowning. Her hands lay delicately on the table, but moved slightly to pick up and examine a copy of the note Ienzo had made and handed to her.

"Yeah," she said, handing the note back. "I wrote that."

"Huh. Well, this note says that Ms. Sanford gave a customer false information. Is that true?" Myde asked, tucking the note neatly back into its folder.

"Yeah. She did."

"You see, I don't understand why you would care. Not being a fortune teller yourself, how would you even _know _that she had given out false information?"

Arlene blinked a little, obviously unnerved. Collecting her wits as best she could, she shakily replied "Business, of course. I mean, who would want to come to our business if we were always wrong?"

"That's a nice point in theory, ma'am, but most people don't consider fortune-telling a very truthful business in the first place, do they? I doubt very much you would have lost many customers."

Arlene glared. "That's what you think."

"Mrs. Pire," Ienzo began, "I want you to tell me in your own words what happened this morning, when you found the body."

Arlene sighed. "Fine."

"I was coming to work, like always. My son was with me today; he had a dentist's appointment and I'd told him that if everything went well, I'd let him skip school.

"I walked in and I saw Mrs. Sanford on the floor, dead, and the crystal ball on the floor. On further inspection, I saw that the window in the bathroom had been broken. I figured it was that one customer, the one she lied to."

Ienzo nodded. "Can you tell us his name?"

"Elaeus Jones." saw Mrs. Sanford on the floor,

-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-

"5973. This is it."

Ienzo stopped the car outside a small house. A sign affixed to the door read "E. Jones".

Myde stepped out of the passenger seat of the car. He walked up some stairs onto a small landing, Ienzo close behind, and knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal a large, tall man, who was looking at them curiously. "Can I help you?" he asked cautiously.

Ienzo and Myde held up their badges. "I'm Officer Dubourg, and he's Officer Williams," Ienzo stated calmly. "We need to ask you a few questions."

Elaeus looked surprised. "Of course, officers. Come on in."

He stepped aside and allowed Myde and Ienzo to pass, directing them to sit in a small room off to the side and insisting that that make themselves comfortable.

Elaeus smiled and sat on the couch across from them. "Fire away officers," he said cheerily.

"Right. Mr. Jones, did you know this woman?" asked Ienzo, handing a picture to Elaeus. His eyes widened in recognition.

"Yes, yes I did know her. Why, has something happened? I just went to her shop the other day, and she seemed fine."

"I'm sorry sir, she's dead." said Myde sadly, taking back the picture.

Elaeus nodded. "So you think I did it?" he asked lightly, saddened by the death of his friend.

"You're one of our suspects at the time, yes," Ienzo replied.

"I have an alibi."

"Naturally," said Myde, smiling. "Where were you this morning?"

"I was at my bakery. In fact, my break is almost over, I should be getting back soon." Elaeus replied, glancing at his watch.

"You own a bakery…?"

"Yes. Silent Hero Bakery. Down on 5th street."

Myde sighed, standing up to leave. "Thank you for your time."

"No problem, officers."

-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-

Ienzo and Myde walked into the Police Station, towards Ienzo's office. Opening the door, they walked over to the desk and fell into the waiting chairs.

"So there goes our main suspect," Myde growled.

"Yes, but that's how it goes. Police find suspect, suspect has alibi, rinse and repeat." Ienzo replied, shrugging. "At least there's still Arlene."

"And we forgot to ask Elaeus about the note." Myde groaned, closing his eyes and putting his head in his hands.

Ienzo looked up. "Oh no, did we really?"

"Of course. Like we could ever be competent enough to do our jobs."

Ienzo sighed.

"Mr. Dubourg? Mr. Williams?"

The door opened to reveal the secretary. She hesitated, before saying, "There's a man out in the lobby, a Mr. Jones. He says he knows you, and that he needs to tell you something important, something he forgot before."

Myde grinned. "That's perfect. Bring him in, if you would."

"Yes sir," said the man quickly, leaving the room.

A few minutes later, he returned with Elaeus in tow. "Mr. Dubourg, Mr. Williams," he repeated, stepping out of the room.

Elaeus paused, before grinning widely. "Officers Dubourg and Williams!" he exclaimed.

"Ah, Mr. Jones," said Ienzo pleasantly. "What brings you here?"

"I forgot to tell you something important. It's about Kairi."

"Alright, Mr. Jones. Go ahead."

"When I went to see her, she read my future, like always, but after awhile she seemed to be a little troubled. She said something about a 'betrayal', but later said that it didn't apply to me. A few minutes later, her assistant -- Arlene Pire is her name, I believe -- called her out into the other room for a chat. Didn't look too happy either. Does that help you guys?"

Myde looked like he'd won the lottery. "It sure does!" he chirped.

"Just one more thing, Mr. Jones," said Ienzo, "I was wondering if you've ever spoken to Mrs. Pire before?"

"Well, yes, now that you mention it. Just small talk. I told her I ran a bakery. She seemed interested, so I told her the address and store hours."

"Alright, thank you Mr. Jones."

Elaeus nodded, and stood up to leave. "Yeah, anytime." He turned towards the door, then paused. "Just make sure you catch the creep who killed Kairi. That's all I ask." he said, before turning and leaving.

Myde smirked. "Arlene knew that Elaeus was working at the time of the break-in. There's no way she could have thought it was him. I wonder what else she's lied to us about?"

-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-

Myde and Ienzo arrived at Kairi's shop fifteen minutes later. The were greeted by a harassed-looking Even, who angrily stated that his personal-space bubble had been invaded thirty-seven times, and counting.

"A bunch of officers from the next town over started flocking in. I finally got rid of them about ten minutes ago, but the Chief wants to talk to you. He's waiting inside." Even said wearily, pointing to the door. Ienzo and Myde went inside to speak to him.

The Chief looked up at their entrance. "Ah, you must be the officers in charge of this?" he asked.

"Yes sir," said Ienzo. "Dr. Carr said you wanted to speak with us?"

The Chief nodded. "Follow me."

He started to walk to the bathroom at the back of the shop, and Ienzo and Myde followed close behind. The Chief stopped outside, allowing them to go in.

Myde looked around. "So this is where Arlene's break-in happened?" he asked. The other two nodded. Myde stepped closer to the broken window, paused, then took another step so that he stood directly in front of the window. "Well that's strange. Ienzo, notice what's not there?"

Ienzo's eyes widened. "Glass…" he breathed. He went to join Myde by the window. "You're right," he acknowledged, then he turned to the Police Chief to explain. "there's no glass on the floor here. Had there actually been a break-in, as Arlene said, there would be glass on the floor here. If the glass had been broken from the outside to get in, the glass would have shattered into the room. If I'm not mistaken, there's glass on the other side of this window," --he paused to push his hand through the hole and retrieve a piece of glass from the grass outside-- "and that proves that this window was broken from the inside out. It doesn't fit with the break-in."

"Very good, officers. You're right," said the Chief, smiling. "You ought to have a little chat with Arlene.

-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-

"Mrs. Pire," began Myde.

They were once again seated around a table in the Police Station, Ienzo and Myde on one side, Arlene on the other. Arlene looked less than pleased that she was still being kept here. Interrupting Myde, she banged her fist on the table.

"Hurry this up!" she demanded. "I want to go home!"

"You will soon, please calm down, Mrs. Pire," Ienzo assured her.

Arlene contented herself with silently fuming and glaring at them. Myde, ever the optimistic one, saw this as a major improvement, and immediately started talking again."

"You lied to us, Mrs. Pire. And you staged a break-in."

Arlene's eyes widened. "How…?"

Ienzo smirked. "You admit to it then?

Arlene looked furious. "No! she snarled. "Go back to the shop! Get more evidence! I didn't kill Kairi, and neither did my son."

"Ma'am, we need to speak with your son before we do that, said Ienzo.

"Whatever. Just hurry it up."

-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-

Ienzo and Myde sat in the same room, waiting as Arlene was escorted out, and her son Lae was brought it.

Lae looked scared, but he was desperately trying to hide it. Myde noted with a smile

that his pockets were stuffed full of toy cars and candy. He pulled himself onto the chair, and then stared at them warily, without saying a word.

"Hello, Lae!" said Myde cheerily. Lae didn't answer. "We're going to ask you a few questions about this morning," he continued. Lae just nodded once. "What happened this morning? I want you to tell me everything you remember."

Lae bit his lip, before opening his mouth and saying "Mom found Ms. Kairi on the floor. She wouldn't get up, and so Mom yelled at me to get the phone and call you guys."

"Is that all, Lae?" Myde asked kindly. Lae nodded. "Alright, you can go."

Lae got up, and the officer escorted him out of the room.

Ienzo sighed. "There's no way that's all. Did you see how nervous he was?"

"Back to the shop?"

"Back to the shop."

-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-

Even was there before Myde or Ienzo even had the chance to open the car door.

Stepping out of the car, Ienzo had an excited Even dragging him through the shop, to the room where they had found the body, Myde following close behind.

Even was smiling. "I found this ten minutes ago," he said proudly, pointing to something on the cushion on the chair by the table that normally held the crystal ball.

It was a little toy car. Identical to the ones that Ienzo and Myde had seen in Lae's pocket.

"And that's not all," Even continued, "I found this book. It's covered in something sticky."

He handed Ienzo the book. Ienzo looked at the heading at the top of the page, and turned pale. "Myde," he murmured, "Look at what page this is…"

Myde turned to look. "'Death Omens'," he read. He thought for a second, remembering the candy in Lae's pocket.

Myde gasped. "Arlene's not the killer!" he exclaimed, "Lae is!"

-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-

If Lae had looked frightened before, now he looked terrified. He sat beside his mother, who was holding one of his hands in her own.

Myde sighed. "Lae. It's time to tell the truth. What really happened this morning?"

Lae wouldn't speak, he only held his mother's hand tighter.

"Would you like us to guess? Tell me if I have anything wrong, okay?" Ienzo asked kindly. Lae paused, then nodded. Ienzo began to speak.

"Here's what I think happened. I think, Lae, you did something this morning that's you're not allowed to do. You went into Ms. Kairi's special room. I don't blame you, it's a cool room. But you got up on Ms. Kairi's chair, and tried to look in the crystal ball.

You saw something, didn't you? And then you looked it up, that symbol you saw, and you saw it listed with the bad symbols. The symbols that say bad things. It was very scary. You were worried that Ms. Kairi would see the symbol and get mad at you, so you tried to hide the crystal ball. But Ms. Kairi heard you. She came into the room, and you got scared, and hit her. Is that right?"

Lae had started crying. When Ienzo finished, he sobbed, and nodded. "I didn't mean to hurt her!" he cried. "I didn't mean to hurt Ms. Kairi…"

"I know…" said Myde. "I know you didn't. But you did hurt her. And you have to face the consequences."

Another officer entered the room. Her gestured to Arlene to stand up, then handcuffed her. "Mrs. Arlene Pire, you're under arrest for the obstruction of justice in a criminal investigation," he said, leading her out of the room. Lae followed with another officer.

Myde rested his head in his hands. Ienzo put his hand on Myde's shoulder lightly.

"You solved your first case," Ienzo noted.

Myde ran a hand through his hair. "It doesn't feel great," he said, standing up.

Ienzo rose from his chair. "Never does."

* * *

A/N: Yeah, another one-shot that isn't my sequel. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever get around to that...

This all began as a project for my English class. We were told to write a mystery. I couldn't think of a plot for awhile, so it was kind of hard, but then I got my plot and the story just...wrote itself. I turned this in this afternoon, and I think I got a nice grade on it, personally. Tell me what you guys think, okay?

Review? I worked hard on this.

Akane


End file.
